24 per cent of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan are young adults

The data of corona virus patients in Pakistan show that most of the coronavirus cases are young adults ,revealed the country’s health minister.

“Some 24 per cent of the confirmed cases in Pakistan so far are between 21 to 30 years of age,” said Dr Zafar Mirza, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health.

He said that this pattern of COVID-19 cases in Pakistan is different from rest of the world where it has mostly affected the older people. In China, COVID has hit people around the age of 65 years and above.The fact that Pakistan has a higher young population as compared to China and many other affected countries, explains why a majority of the confirmed cases in Pakistan constitute young adults,” explained Dr Rana Safdar, Chief Epidemiologist at the National Institute of Health as reported by The Gulf News.

The number of confirmed corona virus cases in Pakistan has jumped to 1,128 as of 26 Mar,2020 after new cases were reported in Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. So far, there are 8 deaths and 21 patients have recovered in Pakistan.The data shows that the number of corona patients in KPK is increasing alarmingly.On 25 March 39 out of 46 people were tested positive for Covid-19 in Union Council of Mardan.

Presenting further analysis of data as the number of confirmed cases in Pakistan crossed the 1,100 mark, Dr Mirza said that local transmission of the virus stood at seven per cent meaning that 93 per cent of the confirmed patients contracted the disease in countries already affected by it. Most COVID-19 patients are those who have travelled to Iran for pilgrimage and their families. The infected patients comprise of 64 per cent men and 36 per cent women.

Dr Mirza said that around 5,225 people are currently isolated in quarantine facilities across Pakistan. Of these, 23% had tested positive, while all others were being sent back home with explicit instructions for protection.

Pakistani rupee has seen drop on the second consecutive day with exchange rate of Rs166 against US$1. The rupee has lost around Rs12 in the past one month to Rs166 On Thursday compared to Rs154.23 closing on February 28. The Pakistani currency depreciated a fresh Rs4.40 on Thursday to Rs166 against the US dollar in intraday trade in the interbank market.

The rupee is trading beyond its all-time low closing at Rs164.05 on June 27, 2019, some nine months ago. This is all happening in the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic which kept taking toll on people and global economy, including Pakistan.